Fire extinguisher



mimh 25, 192%. 1,488,289

w. J. RUFF FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed Sept. 22, .1919 5 Sheets-Sheet 1'arch 25 1920 W. J. RUFF FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed Sept. 22, 1919 1 sSheets-Sfieet 5 Patented Mar. 25, 1924. v

. urrso s'rArais wznmm a. Burr, or QUINCY, rumors.

I 1min nx'rmemsnna.

. a utetmauea'st tenher 22.1919. Serial aaaaaaoa Toallwkomitmyconcema Beit known that ILWILLIAM J. RUFF, a

Y fcitizen of the United States, and a resident cation.

of Quincy m the county of Adams and State of I 'ois, have inventedcertain new a and useful Improvementsrin Fire Extin-' considerablemovement or motion of the parts to be protected are found.

One object of my impirovement is the provision of simple'and-e cientmeansfor automatically putting out small fires before they obtainheadway.

- A further object is the provision of sig-.

naling apparatus for indicating fires.

A still further object is the provision of a simple and efiicient meansfor applying fire extinguishing fluids toa fire.

Another object is the provision of simple and efiicient means forforcing a fire extinguishing fluid under pressure into a fire extinguishing liquidunder' circumstances where the apparatus may be turnedin any direction.

Other objects will appear hereinafter. An embodiment of my invention isillustrated in the accompan ing drawings form-- ingra part of this specication and in which, ig. 1 is a view showing more ,or' lessdiagrammatically fire extinguishing appa ratus embodying my invention.

'Fi 2 is a longitudinal section of atanlc used the construction. a j FFig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 in ig. 4 is a. fragmental sectionshowing a modified form .of the parts in the tank shown in Fig. 2, and IFig. 5 is a side view of a nozzle-handle and spray-forming plate used inthe construction.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I have indicated more orless diagrammatically in Fig. 1, my fire extinguishing apparatus whichis particularly applicable to aeroplanes and other aerial vehicles wherethe apparatus is apt to be turned in any direction. In fireextinguishing apparatus for aeroplanes and the like, it has been foundthat the apparatus which requires to be pumped by hand, or otherwiserequiring the I use ofrboth hands of the operator, are of manner fromthe description herein.

positions or any desired I prefer to use carbonic acid gas under ferentparts ma be attached to the aerohigh pressure to extinguish small firesand as a means'for forcing the fire extinguishing liquids into-contactwith larger fires. In

Fig. 1 I have indicated a tank 5 which may be any desirable form ofcontainer for contalnmg thecarbonic acid gas under high pressure. Thetankfi is shown as having a valve'6 at its top for'controllingvthepassage of the fluid from said tank. alve 6-is intended to represent anysuitable valve for thispurpose. In my device,

gas dirctly onto a fire as soon as such fire is started. For thisurpos'e I connect a pipe 7 with a suitable "discharge nozzle 8 w ich'has fusible means therem adapted to be fused by the heat from a smallfire and permit the escape of thefluid from such device. The member 8may represent a sprinkler head now'on the market or any other form offusible nozzles. In use, as many of such nozzles as ma be desired may beused and in any desire position about thea'eroplane or the like, such asadjacent the gas tank, carbureter, engine or other laces, none ofwhich'are shown, as those sk1lled in the art will know how to apply suchdevices.

In the pipe 7 I connect a whistle 9'or other alarm meansby which anoperator will be notified that a 'fire'has fused one .of his members 8,in which instance he will then operate the other he described later. a a

I have shown a. means for operating the whistle whichconsists o'f'achamber 10 having a diaphragm" 11 therein-with a valve stem 12 connectedto the diaphragm and attached to a valve 13 "for controlling the flow offluid to the whistle 9. On the side of the diaphragm 11 opposite stem 12I have indicated a compression spring 14L The arrangement is such thatwhen the pressure of tank 5 is on the pipe 7 and the member 8 is closed,the pressure will hold the diaphragm 11 in a popart of the apparatus toI desire to provide automatic means for spraying the carbonic acid mitthe esca sition to maintain the valve 13 closed, and when member 8 hasbeen fused so as to perof fluid therefrom, the pressure in the ipe 7will be somewhat reduced, and this Wlll permit the spring 14 to pressthe diaphragm toward the valve 13 and open the latter sufficiently topermit the gas to blow the whistle 9. v 1

In the pipe 7, adjacent the valve 6, I have indicated athree-way valve15. In the iposition shown this valve 15 conducts the uids from valve 6into pipe 7 anditis intended to keep the valve 15 in this position whenthere are no fires. When the whistle 9 has indicated that there is afire, the operator turns valve 15 so that the passage therethroughconducts pressure from tank.5 into" pipe 16 and from pipe 16 through aregulating valve 17 which may be set to operate at any desirablepressure.

1 In a tank 18 I provide a fire extinguishing liquid which may be any ofthe numerous fire extinguishing liquids on the market, but I prefer touse liquids which are suitable for putting out gasoline fires or thelike. Such liquids often contain in the combination, carbon tetrachloride and ethyl benzoate in solution, or which contain carbon tetrachloride and anilin. The tank 18 may contain any desirable quantityofthis liquid, but I preferably fill the tank to an extent to leave a gass ace at the to of the li uid. The ipe 16 1s connected with the tan 18and as passages 19 which leadfrom said pipe 16 into the interior of tank18. Where the liquid is above the openings of passages 19, the gas .willbubble up to the top of liquid 20 in said tank and remain at the top ofsuch liquid.

In the tank 18 I rovide a discharge member 21 which in t e presentinstance comrises a pipe 21 journaled at one end in a caring b ock 22and with its other end in a fitting 23, the bearings 22 and 23 beingsecured to the tank in any desirable manner. In the present form I haveindicated a conical seat 24 in the fitting 23 with a member 25 attachedto the tube 21 and seated in said conical seat 24. A spring 26 pressesbetween bearing member 22 and a flange 27 on the pipe 21 so as tomaintain the member 25 against its seat 24. By grinding or otherwisefitting the member 25 in its seat a substantially fluid-tight joint isformed which will turn easily-in use.

Depending from the pipe member 21. are weights 28 and 29. passage 30leads througheach of the weights 28 and 29 from. the bottom portion oftank 18 to the interior of-tube 21 so that the liquid 20 may pass upthrou h said passages into the tube 21 and out lrough the latter into apipe 31. In each of the passages 30is a valve seat 32 which cooperateswith a -valve 33. The valves 33 are connected together by a stem 34 andthe latter is of such length that only one valve 33 will be seated atone time. The arrangement is such'that when the tank 18 is moved so thatone end rises an appreciable distance above the other, the weight ofvalves 33 and stem 34 will cause such valves and stem to slidelongitudinally of the stem and close the valve which is uppermost andopen the valve which is lowermost. As often as either end of the tank iselevated above the other, these valves will move as just de- 30 willconduct fluid to pipe 31.

- With this arrangement it will be apparent that the weight members 28and 29 will always hold the lower ends of the passages 30 ad acent thelower side of tank 18 regardless of any rotary movement given to tank18; also the valves 33 and their stem34 will cause the uppermost ofpassages 30 to be closed. With this arrangement then the scribed so thatonlv the lowermost opening I gas pressing on liquid 20 can only forcesuch liquld to leave the bottommost part of tank 18 into the pipe 31.This prevents the gas from being lown through the device without passingthrough the liquid.

In Fig. 4, I have shown a slightly modified form of weight member andmounting of the spring 26. Gas leaving pipe 16, in this form, would assdirectly into the open end 35 of the downwardly through a passage 36 tothe bottom of liquid 20 then bubble up through said liquid to the to ofthe latter to exert force on the to 0 such liquid. In this form it isdesira le to provide a small bafile plate 37 between the opening ofpassage 30 and passage 36 to prevent a portion ofthe gas assing directlyinto the passage 30.

- A so, in Fig. 4 the spring 26 is mounted lscharge member 21 andoutside the tank 18 with a cover 38 attached Ill position about theaeroplane or the like, but

preferably in a position to be readily accessible to the o rator so thathe can with one hand grasp-t e handle 41 of a nozzle 43 and direct thefire extinguishin fluids to places where the fire is burning. ny form ofnozzle 41 may be utilized, but'I prefer to use one in which a flexibleplate 42 is secured to one side of the handle 41, so that the operatorcan flex the plate 42, as indicated by dotted lines .in Fig. 1, tochange a stream issuing from nozzle, 43 into a. spray by simply pressingthe plate 42 into the path of 1 through pipe 31 to nozzle 41 which isdirected toward the fire by the 0 erator as desuch stream; It isunderstood that any and all of the valvesshown may be connected in sucha way, or positioned in such places, that for manipulation. 1

they will be easily accessible to an operator ,In Fig. 1 the device isarranged so that the full pressure of tank 5 is on pipe 7 and nozzle 8,but a reducing valve of any suitable design may be placed in pipe 7, orreducing valve. 17 may be placed in pipe 7 adjac'ent valve 6 to reducethe pressure of gas to nozzle 8 and whistle 9 as well as to tank 18.

In use, the tank 18 is filled half full or more with a fireextinguishing fluid and the tank 5 charged with carbonic'acid as, or thelike. The valve .6 is left open and valve 15 left in the positionindicated in Fig. 1 under normal conditions so-that when a fire occursadjacent the member 8 and the seal is broken in the latter, gas fromtank 5 can pass through the member 8 to put. out small fires. Whenmember 8 opens the pressure,

forces the fire extinguishing fluid out sired. It willbe-apparent, 0course, that the valves in pipe 31 are openedto permit the gas to passto said nozz I ave described my device as bein particularly adapted foraerial vehicles, nt it may be used on automobiles, boats, trains andother vehicles, or in buildings, or wherever fire extinguishingapparatus is desirable.

I claim: 1. A fire extinguisher comprising a substantially cylindricaltank having a seat at one end thereof; a pipe pivoted at the axis ofsaid tank; a mgmber at one end of said i e e a in sai seat; a springenga ing Phi; otl i r end of the pipe and tank hol ing said memberagainst said seat forming a fluid-tight joint; and hollow weightsextending laterally from said pipe and having openings therethroughextending from the interior of said pipe to adjacent the inner wall ofthe tank at the ends of the latter.

2. A fire extinguisher comprising a tank; a weighted member ivoted inthe tank with a portion adjacent t e bottom of'said tank, there beingfeed and discharge passages in said weighted member with theirrespectiveopenings spaced apartin said portion of the weighted member;and a bafie' plate on said member between said openings.

3. Afire extinguisher comprising a substantialli cylindr cal tank abearing at one end of t e tank having a discharge opening for the tanktherethrough and a. seat around said'opening; a pipe 'ournaled inthehearing; an enlarged mem r on the pipe engaging and fitting said seat;resilient means pressing. the 1pc longitudinally thereof to hold themember against'said seat; and hollow members extending from said pipe toad acent the interior lateral wall .of said tank.

4. A fire extinguisher comprising a container; bearings at the ends ofthe container, there being a discharge opening through and a' conicalseat'in one of said bearings; a

discharge pipe journaled' axially of the tank v in said bearings; amember on said dischar e pipe engaging said conical seat; and res' entmeans pressing said member into said seat forming a fluid-tight joint.

5. A fire extinguisher. comprising a container; bearings in'thecontainer, one of said bearin having 'a discharge opening therethrougand a conical seat therein; a pipe disposed substantially axially of thecontainer and journaled in said bearings; weight members on the pipewith openin s therethrough leading from the bottom of tide tank to theinterior of said pipe; an enlarged conical member on. the pipe seated insaid conical seat; and a s ring engaging said pipe and adapted to ho dsaid conical mem,-

ber a ainst said seat.

6. fire extinguisher comprising a tank adapted to contain a liquid; adischar e nozzle; pipes connecting said tank wit said discharge nozzle;a source of gas under pressure connected with said ipes; a reducingvalve in said pi es; a t ree-way valve adapted to alternate y connectthe source of gas under pressure with the nozzle and to connect thesource of gas under pressure with said tank; alarm means connected insaid pipes ada ted to cause an alarm when gas isllssuin rom said nozzle;and means insaid tank or utilizing pressure oi as for forcing liquid outbf said tank regar less of which portion of the tank is uppermost.

7. A fire extinguisher comprising a tank adapted to contain a fireextinguishing fluid; a nozzle; a source of gas under pressure; and athree-wa valve connected with the tank, nozzle an source of gas underpressure adapted to alternately connect the source of gas under pressurewith said tank and sand nozzle; discharge means connected with saidtank; and means in said tank for utilizing the pressure of gas forforcing liquid out of said tank.

8. A fire extinguisher com rising a tank adapted to contain a liqui anozzle; a

source of gas under pressure; pipes connecting said nozzle, tank andsource of gas um as supply alternately to the tank and nozzle; dischargemeans connected with said tank and an alarm in said pipes operable by reducing the pressure of gas in said pipes be-.

low a predetermined pressure.

9; A fire extinguisher comprising a tank adapted to contain a liquid; asource of gas under pressure; a discharge .nozzle; pipes connecting saidtank, discharge nozzle and source of gas under pressure; a valve,connested in said pipes adapted to control the flow of gas from saidsource of gas under pressure alternately to said tank and'said nozzle; acasing connected in said pipes between said valve and said nozzle; aspringpressed member in said casing adapted for operation by the springthereof upon the pressure of gas in said pipes'being reduced when thenozzleis open; an alarm device attaclied to said casing; and means insaid tank for forcing a liquid from the latter by pressure of gas insaid tank. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification on this 18th day of September A. D. 1919.

- WILLIAM J. RUFF.

